After the boss died, players clapped their hands as some annoying people do after an airplane lands. The first few times we defeated an Arcane Blight boss, everybody celebrated, shouting and shooting spells in the air.

As several victories passed and fighting became routine, it became awkward to keep cheering. People settled on polite clapping before the crowd broke apart, and everyone returned to whatever they were doing before. It’s wholesome, in a way.

“Mardukryon Fur?” Spokeless muttered. He raised a brow while checking his inventory. “That’s dark… and disgusting.”

“At least it’s not Mardukryon meat,” I said. “Think of it like killing skeletons in a cemetery. The bones they drop are human. If they dropped human hair, I suppose it’d be more awkward. Not sure if that’s the right term.” I had no experience fighting skeletons; I was retelling stories I picked up from other players.

“Not sure what I’ll use the fur of my own kind for,” Spokeless said, “But what’s important is I got a lot of cool footage to post!”

“It would’ve been cooler if the fight dragged on,” I said. “The boss has different phases, and you’ll eventually see the parasite inside it, puppeteering the Mardukryon corpse. I saw it only once, back when this whole thing started, and there weren’t many players around. Now, the boss doesn’t last long.”

We merged with the flow of Mardukryons returning to the village.

Spokeless stayed behind to tour the destroyed cliff walls and chat with other new players exploring the Hunter-Warrior camps. I gave him a few bottles of [Morabodry] as a parting gift. He thanked me for my help, as everyone was required by law to do, and we separated ways.

I didn’t return to the cliffs where new players spawned, heading instead to a house I had visited a couple of times for a complicated questline relating to laundry and love. A quest I intentionally didn’t complete to abuse it for power-leveling.

But I didn’t show myself to the NPCs living there. I stopped by a stack of crates across the street and peered out the corner. Look at me, hiding like a kid who didn’t do his chores.

The front part of the house was open, providing a glimpse of the NPCs inside. Near the entrance, a heavily bandaged Mardukryon sat on a mattress, propped by comfy pillows—Pathfinder Gibil.

The Pathfinders were mercenary hunters, willing to find anything, be it rock, plant, or beast if the price was right. Gibil was usually out in the wild, commissioned to hunt for this or that obscure ingredient. But the day Bawu polluted the cliff walls, Gibil was at his house there, waiting for news of his missing beloved Yusa.

Well… I already found Yusa a few days before that. I didn’t complete her quest, so the story didn’t progress. Was it on me that Gibil was severely injured?

Nonetheless, Gibil was having a grand time—minus the injury—living in Yusa’s house.

She emerged from behind a cabinet, carrying a tray of food. She placed it on a low table, and they ate together while laughing. Yusa’s mother soon joined them. She was previously very much against their relationship but seemed to have accepted it.

“He should thank me for this.” I chuckled, turning away and trotting to the west side of Kurghal Village.

Circumstances had changed, but Yusa’s quest remained in my logs—it was time to finish it and see the consequences.

[ Quest: Fruits of Love ]

Help Yusa make the perfect gift for Pathfinder Gibil. Gather five (5) of the ripest and sweetest Peely fruits to make the fruitiest [Peely Fruit Wine] that Gibil will love. But take care and be watchful of your surroundings, for the Frost Feral Macaques will be enraged if you steal their food. Collect the fruits quickly before the monkeys collect you as replacement food.

Screeching reverberated as I entered the territory of the Feral Frost Macaques. Shadows flitted through the trees, but none of them attacked.

I was no longer wary of them after my gear upgrade upon reaching level twenty. I could sleep through hailstorms of their magical ice balls and not be anywhere close to dying. They would do the dying part.

“I’m back, ladies and gentle monkeys!” I stopped by an area where thick trees grew apart. This afforded more monkeys the line of sight to hurl stones at me. “Maybe not so gentle.”

A [Lvl 18 Feral Frost Macaque] crawled to the edge of a branch a couple of meters above and bared its fangs—its furious face peeking behind a lush mane around its head—before cooing a call for its fellows to gather. More revealed themselves, descending from the canopies with great speed, aided by their powerful tails ending in a hand.

“We don’t have the best of relationship…” I began to say.

They formed pairs—one carried rocks, nuts, and pieces of hard bark, while the other was the catapult, enchanting their projectiles with ice magic using their fifth hand.

“I know I have killed hundreds of you,” I continued. “Maybe thousands. I’m not going to say sorry… because I’m not. I’m not a fake person—maybe, I am. Anyway, you’ll be glad to know I’m going to stop soon.”

A dozen pairs aimed at me. And their numbers continued to increase.

A player wasn’t supposed to stop and fight the Frost Macaques—they’d endlessly respawn each time one died, like the heads of a hydra—but should run past and survive their attacks while collecting the Peely fruit Yusa asked for.

I didn’t do that. I delayed completing Yusa’s quest because I had been grinding levels with these monkeys. There wasn’t another place that gave this much Essence and Gli for a tank. Or any other builds. What could’ve made this gig better was Elite Frost Macaques. Unfortunately, no Elites showed up even if dozens of the normal monsters died per hour—it must be because this was a quest.

“Just bear with me until I reach level twenty-four.”

As the gap between our levels widened, the penalty began to affect me. Still, nothing could compete with this farming spot. And I could progress my Akhos Ocadule while AFK-leveling. However, I wanted to move on to other areas and complete quests. There was much to do.

“Maybe a couple of hours, and I’ll be—Hey!” An ice ball hit my horn. It registered as a tiny static shock. The slight damage was regenerated instantly. “I wasn’t finished with—” The rest of the Frost Macaques followed the first and threw their ice balls.

[ Status|Minor Chill: Reduce Attack and Movement Speed by 12% for 2 seconds ]

[ Status|Shattering Ice: Reduce Water Resistance by 7% for 2 seconds ]

[Blight Cloud] couldn’t reach the noisy primates high up in the trees, but that didn’t matter—I had obscene retribution damage. They wouldn’t last a few seconds of attacking me. Also, I no longer bothered to coat my armor with [Morabodry] because of how fast the monkeys died. It wasn’t worth it to poison them, wasting my expensive brews.

“Just do your thing then.” The whiteness of the snow covering the trees and the fur of the Frost Macaques was powdered by puffs of the blue of Essence and violet of Gli. “This is the last day we’ll meet each other anyway.”

Folding my legs beneath me, I lowered my bulky, armor-covered body.

I set my [Magic Slag Cauldron] on the snow. Bright purple flames kindled out of thin air underneath it, melting away the snow and revealing the rich brown earth. I set the [Black Marble Mortar and Pestle] beside it. My equipment was a step higher than the minimum required for the concoctions I could currently make and, together with [Nitrilus Chemical Gloves], increased my brewing success rate.

Nitrilus Chemical Gloves| Item Level: 20

Epic | Light-Armor | Hands

101 Armor

10% Increased Success Rate when crafting poisons

Requires: 30 Might, 30 Spirit

--------------------

+30 Sense

+3% Crafting Success Rate

+10% Poison Resistance

I used [Research Akhos Poisons], the first Rank skill of the Ocadule I got from Bawu.

Lvl. 3 Research Akhos Poisons: Learn to create the five basic Akhos poisons. Inflict incapacitating effects, and make your enemies suffer. Poison duration increases by 5 seconds. For each skill level, the crafting success chance increases by 4%, the chance to poison increases by 3.5%.

Brewable Poisons:

Morabodry – (22+12)% Success Chance. Ingredients: (20) Limerian Toad Skin, (2) Majalis, (1) Amberite, (1) Poison Bottle.

Requires: Enlivened Mortar and Pestle, Bronze Cauldron Frigid Yew Salve – (15+12)% Success Chance. Ingredients: (10) Hoarfrost Yew Seed, (5) Hoarfrost Yew Leaf, (5) Strip of Hoarfrost Yew Bark, (2) Amberite, (1) Golden Mildew, (1) Small Tin

Requires: Enlivened Mortar and Pestle, Bronze Cauldron

I set my character to automatically make poisons as I watched the morning business news. Without conscious thought, I dumped ingredients into the mortar and pounded them with the pestle until they inexplicably combined into a thick liquid, the crystals included. Then I scooped the mixture into the cauldron, and half a minute later, I received the fruits of my automated labor.

[ Received: (4) Morabodry ]

Morabodry | Item Level: 10

Rare | Consumable | No Requirement

A mild poison brewed from the extract of choice herbs and infused with toxic effects by arcane magic. It causes the poisoned unit to lose (1% of Max Health+24) per second. It also hinders the senses and induces sluggishness, reducing Accuracy and Attack Speed by (7%). (If applied to equipment, it has a 10% (+2%) chance of poisoning the enemy per damage instance. Poisoned Status lasts for 4(+3) seconds.)

Duration: 15 Minutes

Uses: 5/5

Four successful out of a batch of five? Fewer failures meant more savings.

I was using the last of my [Morabodry] ingredients before moving on to making [Frigid Yew Salve]. I had dozens of [Morabodry] in my inventory and wouldn’t need more anytime soon. [Frigid Yew Salve] gave more Gli for my poison Ocadule per successful craft and was also valuable for my build.

The issue was that its ingredients were rare in the market because people seldom hunted the Hoarfrost Yews.

But with the revitalization of the Mardukryon player population and the expanding economy, Hoarfrost drops trickled back into the market. Stockpiling [Frigid Yew Salve] was my next focus.

Forty minutes later, my [Morabodry] ingredients ran out.

I pounded [Amberite] into a fine dust before adding Hoarfrost seeds, leaves, and bark. I pounded some more—that’s what she said—until it became a dryish chalky mixture. Into the cauldron it went, along with [Golden Mildew].

[ Received: (3) Frigid Yew Salve ]

Frigid Yew Salve | Item Level: 15

Epic | Consumable | No Requirement

Derived from the cursed toxin that permeates the seeds, leaves, and bark of the hoarfrost yew tree, this potent healing ointment restores 5% of Maximum Health per second for six seconds while inflicting Silence on the user, preventing usage of all skills for the duration. However, Arcane Brewers found a way to extend the defensive properties of the hoarfrost yew tree to the user, granting a 25% chance to Freeze enemies that deal direct damage while the Salve is in effect.

[Frigid Yew Salve] was amazing for a tank as it restored a percentage of health instead of a fixed amount—tanks, expectedly, would have huge health pools. Not to mention the chance to Freeze attacking enemies was excellent crowd control.

The downside was the self-inflicted Silence during the duration of the healing, a very dangerous impairment. I couldn’t remove it with [Cleaning Flames] since I couldn’t cast any skill. That said, I could generously share the status with my enemies if I used [Cloak of the Plaguespreader] beforehand—the essence of my Plaguetank build.

Lvl. 1 Cloak of the Plaguespreader: Chosen as a servant of a sealed carrion lord, you increase your resistance to diseases while spreading them to those who dare touch you. Negative status resistance (+4%) and a 10% chance to inflict any negative status you have on an attacker.

Cost: 45 Energy

Duration: 40 Seconds

Cooldown: 10 Seconds

After an hour and a half of pounding and brewing and getting bonked by hundreds of magical ice balls, I reached my goal. My [Poison Bottle Cast] also leveled up during that time.

[ Increased: Poison Bottle Cast Level to 2 ]

[ Increased: Player Level to 24! ]

Lvl. 2 Poison Bottle Cast: Throw an Akhos Poison bottle and a vaporizing reagent, turning the specific poison into a gas cloud that spreads over a small area (maximum of two). The Akhos Poison in cloud form has a 25% increased chance of inflicting its negative status, with its duration increased by 4 seconds. Enemies in the affected area have their poison resistance reduced by 15%.

Item Cost: 1 Akhos Poison Bottle, 1 Vaporizing Reagent

Duration: 50 Seconds

Cooldown: 10 Seconds

“I guess this is goodbye,” I said as I stood up, extending my hindlegs first, then pushing up the front of my lower body and hefty upper half with my forelegs. “Wait, no. I’ll pass by here late—”

Another ball hit my nose.

“Hey! Who threw that? You? Eat this!” I used [Poison Bottle Cast], throwing bottles at the group of monkeys on the nearest tree to my right. The bottles broke, and their liquid contents mixed, creating a poisonous cloud that engulfed the monkeys.

I galloped further into the forest, hoping I was heading in the right direction.

Trees grew closer to each other. Frost Macaques dropped from above, clobbering me with rocks. They pounded my armor so fast that they hastened their deaths from the retribution damage striking back with each hit. Add the [Blight Cloud] pulsing AoE damage, and the monkeys barely lasted two seconds.

A cloud of blue and violet sparkles swirled around me as I weaved through the bulb-covered trunks. Sometimes I had to double back because I couldn’t get through the thick growth.

Eventually, the monstrous trees of the Golden Forest gave way to a different sort of plant. Striking orange flowers popped against green leaves as a background. Round fruits of the same orange dangled from the branches—Peely fruits.

The Frost Macaques didn’t follow me into the Peely orchard. I dove into the chest-high plants, ignoring the fruits I passed. My target was somewhere further in. Protected by a different plant with crooked spiked roots that crept over the ground was the Peely with fruits so plump and big the branches bowed.

The thorns scraped my armor as I waded through it but barely did any damage. I reached for the fruits. “And that’s five,” I said.

[ Quest Completed: Fruits of Love ]

“Time to go back,” I said with a sigh, staring at the round fruit I held. “I’m going to miss—”

A piercing shriek echoed through the forest. The Frost Macaques answered with their chatters growing louder and louder.

“What is it this time?”